Onder Invloed is a project by Dutch journalist Matthijs van der Ven. The title means ‘under the influence’. Since June 16th 2008, he filmed numerous international musicians covering their favourite songs in sessions and at Onder Invloed live shows. His first book, Onder Invloed, was published in 2012.

THUS OWLS

Remember that session with Simon Angell? The one where he covered Daft Punk on just his guitar? It’s now four years later, and this month I’ve put Angell in front of my cameras once again, this time with his wife Erika. Together they’re two main members of the Swedish/Canadian band Thus Owls. The first session of 2013 includes covers of Portishead, Mark Hollis (Talk Talk) and Robert Wyatt.

This month, their second album ‘Harbours‘ was finally released in The Netherlands. In the week before their (amazing) show at EKKO in Utrecht, Simon Akkermans was kind enough to lend us some equipment and his livingroom to film these songs. If you take a very good look, you’ll see my book ‘Onder Invloed’ in the background. Akkermans was featured in this.

Enough about that, if you haven’t heard ‘Harbours’ yet, you’ll should and you might just feel you have no other choice after watching this session. I was already very much in love with their first, ‘Cardiac Malformations‘ from 2009, but this second record is possibly even better. Thus Owls sounds like an experiment, but one that never loses sight of what makes a good song.

After having lived in Stockholm for a couple of years, Simon (Canadian) and Erika (Swedish) moved to Montreal in 2012, where Simon also plays with Patrick Watson. They’re currently on a short tour in France, before flying back to Canada for more shows. Rumor has it, they’re already writing for a third album.

First things first; I’m delighted to present you the session that we recorded in Utrecht last week.